


eye examination

by crytalstellar



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Reader Insert, Reader Is Not Main Character (Mystic Messenger), Slice of Life, Slow Burn, more tags to be added later, one-sided saeran choi/game!mc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-03-12 22:38:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13557078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crytalstellar/pseuds/crytalstellar
Summary: [discontinued; will be rewritten as evasive eyes]when you escaped that fake paradise you thought that would be the last time you saw that man with those glowing blue green eyes.but things have never gone the way you expected.





	1. runaway

**Author's Note:**

> this is the fic i wrote back in november for nanowrimo! although this fic is related to averting eyes and diverting eyes, it's not necessary to read them to understand this fic. but if you have read them, please note that the mc/reader of those fics and the mc/reader of this fic are **_two separate people_**. 
> 
> anyway, please enjoy! thanks goes to my sweet pumpkin rue for beta-ing this!

Coming to this place was a mistake.

The people who live here call this place a ‘paradise,’ but you don’t see it. Sure, the compound looks absolutely  _stunning_ , but looks can be deceiving, and here they most certainly are. Everyone plays happy, but all you can see is a bunch of people cowering in fear from a woman in a mask and her magic juice.

Though, maybe  _magic_  is not the right word. It would be more appropriate to call it  _poison_.

You’ve been lucky enough to only encounter it twice.

The first time was when you first came to this place. You’d bumped into someone on the street who talked you into coming to some party that his group was having. All the signs that following the man would be a bad idea were there but you were just so… hungry. It’d been a few days since you’d finally decided that you’d had enough of your parents’ overbearing rule and ran away from home. You’d refused to bum off your friends, wanting to make it on your own, but… it was so much harder than you expected, and you hadn’t planned well at all. So when this messenger told you that there would be ‘free food’ at the party, you tuned out the rest of the garbage he was spouting and ignored that little voice in your head telling you that you shouldn’t go. You figured that once you had your fill of food at the party you could just duck out of there no worse for the wear.

Of course, things don’t always work out the way you want them too.

At the party, when the time for a toast came, everyone was handed a pretty little champagne glass filled with a bubbly cyan liquid that you were told was some kind of elixir of salvation. You’d figured it was just some fancy name tacked on to some cutesy alcoholic cocktail. But when everyone raised their glass to drink, that little voice in your head told you to not do it. And this time, you actually listened. You brought the glass to your lips, but didn’t drink. Soon after, a cacophony of shattering glass and ear-piercing screams made you thank your lucky stars that you didn’t drink the ‘elixir.’ But not doing so found you in a bigger predicament.

That was also the first time you met _him_.

Prior to the toast you’d seen him around the party. His handsome face coupled with his bleached hair made him stand out, and some of the girls around your age had flocked to him. Not you, of course; you were far too occupied with the food you’d come here for. But when everyone started screaming, you were unfortunate enough to lock eyes with him. That pretty shade of blue-green had you rooted to the spoot, and the next thing you knew, he was right in front of you, giving you a pitiful smile.

“You didn’t drink,” he had said, as if reprimanding a naughty child.

“It smelled weird.”

His smile had grown tight in response before everything went black.

The second time you encountered the elixir was soon after.

You had woken up chained to the wall in some prison cell. There were a bunch of people there, but you can only remember the man with the blue-green eyes. They forced you to drink that foul drink and… after that, you can only remember an immense pain. You never wanted to have to go through that again.

Apparently what you went through was some kind of initiation ceremony, something that everyone who comes here does… whether they like it or not. You’d found out rather quickly that ‘believers’, as the residents of this hellish place are called, are subjected to a ‘cleansing ceremony’ if they misbehave in any sort of way. You weren’t entirely sure what that entailed, but there was no doubt more of that ‘elixir’ was involved. So, you kept your head down. Did as you were told to ensure that you wouldn’t end up at one of those ‘cleansing ceremonies.’

But that was no way to live; you hadn’t left one oppressive home just to go to another.

You began to plot your escape. You befriended the guards, memorized their patrol schedules and made note of every single entrance and exit around the compound.  If anyone wanted to know how to escape, you’d be the person to ask. Though, the truth is, you might just be the only person who wants out.

You wait to enact your plan on a dark and rainy night. The only thing that you don’t know about in terms of security of this place is the blind spots of the security cameras. But with the rain visibility should be lower, meaning you should have a little more leeway. Since you’d taken the time to memorize the patrol schedule, sneaking out goes according to plan. In fact, it almost seems too easy, but then again, how much guarding does a building actually need when a good deal of its occupants are too afraid to leave?

With the quiet slam of one of the side doors leading outside, you’re basically free. Though the actually hard part isn’t escaping the building itself, but managing to get back to society. As far as you’re aware, it’s at least a couple hours to the nearest town, and that’s just by car. You’ve managed to sneak away enough food to last you a couple days, but if you can’t get somewhere by the time that runs out… Well, the notion of staying is tempting when faced with the thought of a possible death by starvation.

No. You can’t let yourself think like that. You need to get out of here.

With a deep breath, you take a step out toward the forest surrounding the building. The plan is to stick relatively close to the forest’s edge until you can find a road. You know there has to be one relatively close, you just need to find it. If you can do that, you’ll be okay. At least, that’s what you tell yourself.

When you make it to the forest’s edge, you suddenly get the feeling that you’re being watched. Reflexively, you whirl around and there  _he_  is, standing at the door that you used to exit. Did he see you on the cameras and come to drag you back to hell himself? Your entire body tenses up, preparing to run if you need to. But he just stands there, watching you with pensive eyes. Something about them makes it seem as if they’re glowing as he stares you down, and you’re not sure if it’s magical or just plain creepy.

As if you’re dealing with a dangerous animal, you slowly take a step backwards away from him. He makes no move to follow and merely continues to stare at you with those piercing blue-green eyes of his. Is he just going to let you go? Something about that frustrates you. If he wasn’t going to stop you, why come all this way? Why not just let you go?

The longer you stare at him, the more perplexed you feel. Something about him seems… lonely. You don’t know too much about him other than he’s got an important role here. Hell, he might even be the ‘savior’s’ right hand man. But because of that, he’s probably very isolated. You wonder if he’s also being threatened to stay here. Does he, perhaps, wish to escape, too? You take a step back toward him, wondering if you should extend your hand and offer to run away with him.

But then you remember.

You’ve heard the other believers whisper about him. How the savior’s right hand man barely eats. How he barely sleeps. How he locks himself away in the information room, working tirelessly for the savior. And if that’s not a testament of his dedication to the savior and this fake paradise she’s created, you don’t know what is.

There is absolutely no way he’ll leave.

Slowly, you turn your back to him. If you keep standing here, you feel like something in those melancholic eyes of his will convince you to stay, and that’s the one thing that you cannot do. You don’t know why but you whisper a goodbye even though he cannot hear you, and make a break for it.

He doesn’t follow after you. And you don’t think he sends anyone after you either. But you keep running and running until you’re out of breath and can run no longer. You do your best to keep moving, to put as much distance as you can between you and that place.

The rain begins to let up, and you can see the sun peeking just a bit over the horizon when you finally find a road. You know you still have quite a ways to go before you finally get back to society, but it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Making it this far renews your energy. You know you can make it back.

You take a deep breath and step out into the sun, leaving the memory of that blue-green eyed man and the fake paradise behind.


	2. reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after making it back home, our little mc is hit with double whammy of misfortune. and to top it all off, she runs into the man she though she'd never see again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> weeps. so i'm a week late! sorry about that! what happened was that more than fake, the one-shot i posted a few days ago was part of an exchange that had a deadline as well. so once again i'm sorry! if you happened to read more than fake, heeji makes an appearance here as well (technically because that fic is set in the same universe as this one, but veers off). 
> 
> i don't really know what else to say about this chapter. so please enjoy, and as always thanks for your kudos and any comments you may leave!

It’s been a few months since you escaped ‘paradise.’ By some miracle, you managed to make back to the city relatively unscathed. Your friends had rejoiced your return, thinking you’d died. As for your family… you haven’t bothered to check with them beyond sneaking home to grab some important documents you’d left behind. Part of you thinks that you should feel bad, but it seems like they haven’t bothered to look for you either. That makes it all even right? **  
**

But you still have dreams about that man with the mint green eyes. You probably should be calling them nightmares, but the dreams aren’t that scary. They’re just… well, they’re just there. So, you just think of them as a reminder of what could have happened had you not escaped. Though, if you had thought with your brain and not your stomach, then the whole thing may have never happened in the first place.

“Hello~ Anybody in there?”

Your friend, Heeji, waves her hand in front of your face, her call snapping you back to reality.

“Yeah?”

She gives you a worried look, “You okay…? You’ve barely touched your latte.”

“Yeah, sorry,” you shoot her an apologetic smile, glancing down at the now cold latte on the table. “Just… got a lot on my mind.”

“I’ll say!” she nods in agreement, knowing everything you’ve gone through over the past few months. “…It’s not often that  _you_  call me to hang out; usually I’m the one banging down your door. So what’s up?”

You open your mouth tell her, hesitating as the words hover at the tip of your tongue. In all honesty, earlier in the morning your roommate, Nayeon had suddenly told you that you need to move out. She didn’t say why, but she’d gotten a boyfriend recently and you suspect the two subjects are related. You’d called up Heeji, hoping she could help you find a new place to live, but she’s the one who set you up to live with Nayeon in the first place. Would it be rude to tell her it’s not working out…?

Heeji calls your name again, her brows knitted in worry. You twiddle your thumbs, debating whether or not to tell her. You want to think you can handle it yourself, but since you called her out yourself, even if you say it’s nothing now, she’s probably going to figure out  _something_  is going on. The only choice is to fess up. “…This morning Nayeon asked me to move out.”

“…What?” Heeji stares at you in disbelief. “Why?”

“She… didn’t say,” you grumble, looking down. Since you have no proof it’s the boyfriend, you don’t want to say it in case it’s actually something else.

“Oh god, no wonder you’re all spacey. I’d be hella stressed out too if I were you,” Heeji’s voice is saturated with sympathy. “…Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s not your fault.”

You look back up at Heeji. “I… thanks.”

“I know things have been rough… that store you were working at suddenly closed last week, too, didn’t it?”

You groan, not wanting to remember that. The store hadn’t even been open for two months. It’d paid well, but the owners… weren’t the best business people, which was probably why it flopped. You’ve been looking for a new job, but haven’t had too much luck so far. This whole getting kicked out thing isn’t helping your situation in the slightest.

Heeji scoots her chair over so she’s closer to you and throws an arm around your shoulders for a half hug, “Cheer up! Things’ll get better! It’s not like you’re in that crazy cult any more!”

You sigh. She has a point. You could be way worse off.

“You know what might help you cheer up?” she asks with a cheery smile. “A nice round of drinks with a bunch of friends! Jieun told me that they’re having a mixer tonight, and you know you’re always free to join us!”

“Ah… “ As nice as it would be to drink your problems away, you don’t really think it’s the wisest decision, given your situation. “I… probably shouldn’t.”

“Aww!” she whines. “Are you sure? It’ll be a lot of fun!”

“Drinking costs money you know, and I kind of have a limited amount of that right now…”

Heeji crosses her arms and pouts at you. “I’m willing to cover a drink or two for you!”

You shake your head, “No, really, it’s fine!”

“Oh, but Jieun said there’d be a lot of cute guys there!” she pleads, and you start to wonder if she wants you to come for reasons other than cheering you up. She always liked having some kind of wingperson whenever she’s hitting someone up. “I’ve even met a few of them before!”

She begins to ramble about some of these guys and you automatically start tuning her out. As much as you love Heeji, she can get a little boy crazy if you get her started. While she continues to prattle on, you stare out into the crowd outside the cafe. It’s late in the afternoon, so the square is busy with all sorts of people going to and fro. One guy, in particular, catches your eye as he moves about the crowd. He stands out with the bright red mop of hair on his head. He keeps looking around and you wonder if he’s maybe lost… Then, he turns, and somehow your eyes connect instantly. Your entire body freezes at the sight of  _those_ mint green eyes. It’s  _him_. There’s no way you would, no way you  _could_  forget those eyes of his. Despite the nightmares, you thought the chances that you’d ever see him and those almost glowing eyes of his again were slim to none.

It’s as if your luck couldn’t get any worse.

Your heart starts to rattle in your chest as he makes his way through the crowd toward you. Something about that look in his eyes has you rooted to the spot. In a way, it’s almost nostalgic.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Heeji giving you a puzzled look. She’s probably noticed that you’ve stopped paying attention to her. Her head turns a little, following your line of sight to see what’s got you so distracted. A second later she lets out a low whistle, “Who’s  _he_?”

You can’t say. You never even learned his name.

Finally, he makes it to the cafe patio, and you curse yourself for deciding to sit outside. He stares down at you and you realize that he looks different. It’s not just that his hair is no longer bleached, but his clothes, his… whole aura. Despite the fact he’s staring you down like there’s no tomorrow, something about him seems… softer than what you can remember from your time in Mint Eye. Though perhaps the lack of his goth-punk accessories can attribute to that.

“You…” he mutters. You’d only exchanged words a few times in the past but something about his voice seems so familiar.

You don’t say anything in response, instead choosing to watching him with careful eyes. He’s not here to take you back, is he…? Somehow, you don’t think so, not with this crowd in the middle of the afternoon. But then again, you never know, so you sit at the edge of your seat, ready to make a break for it if need be.

Heeji looks between you and him, clearly confused by the staredown the two of you are having. She leans in close and whispers, “Where did you meet this guy? He’s hot!”

“Ah…” you aren’t quite sure what to say. It doesn’t seem like the smartest idea to tell her that he happened to be a very important person in that cult you were trapped in. You don’t know how he’ll react, and that could potentially be dangerous. “We… used to work together.”

“What?!” Heeji cries so loud that you wince. “Why did you never tell me?!”

Well, you  _did_  tell her about him. It’s just you don’t know if there’s a safe way to tell her who he is exactly. Secondly, unlike some people, you’re not boy-crazy enough to go blabbing every time you run across a cue guy. “Well…”

She pouts at you and then looks back up at him, then to you again, then him. He still seems to be watching you, his eyes as unreadable as always. After a moment, Heeji’s eyes widen as if she’s had some sort of epiphany. Something about it gives you a bad feeling. She gives you a confusingly encouraging smile. “So, I just remembered that there’s something I’ve got to do, so I’m gonna go now! Have fun catching up with your  _old coworker_ ~”

“No! Wait!” you wail desperately. You should not be left alone with this man.

But she’s already out of her seat and leaving the patio area of the cafe where you’d been hanging out. She walks for a bit, but before she’s out of sight she turns back to you and gives you a double thumbs up. You glare. Does she think she’s trying to help you  _score_ a boyfriend or something?

You turn your attention back to your visitor and he’s still there, still staring at you. To say the least, it’s a little off putting that pretty much the entire time he’s been standing here, he’s just been gawking at you. It could be worse, you tell yourself, but you’d think he’d at  _least_  say something. As if he knows what you’re thinking, he opens his mouth, ready to finally speak when-

“Saeran!”

He whips his head around at the sound of a female voice calling what you assume must be his name. You look past him to see a young woman with brown hair running up to the two of you followed by… another red haired man in glasses. As he approaches you realize they look nearly identical- must be twins.

“Saeran, I was so worried about you!” the other man exclaims, heaving a heavy, yet relieved sigh. “You wandered off without saying anything!”

Saeran, as you now know for sure, scowls a bit, averting his gaze. Despite this, the other man reaches out and wraps his arm around Saeran, causing him to shove him away, an annoyed look on his face. The girl giggles at the sight of the two before redirecting her attention to you, “Do you, perhaps, know Saeran?”

Before Saeran has even a chance to say anything (though who knows what he’d even say), you answer, “No. I don’t know him. He probably mistook me for someone else.”

“Oh…” For some reason, the girl looks disappointed. Beside her, Saeran frowns, probably because you both know that you’re lying. More or less, anyway. You know each other’s face, and that’s probably where any familiarity ends. You scoot your chair back and grab your bag.

“Anyway, I should get going,” you say, rising from your chair so that you can leave. You don’t get the feeling that he’s here to drag you back to that hell, but you really shouldn’t take any chances. Besides, there’s something about this trio that makes you feel… awkward. “So, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Are you still homeless?”

That stops you dead in your tracks. Why that little… But how could he have known? There’s no way he could know what transpired between you and Nayeon earlier, right? Before you can stop yourself, you spin around, ready to give that man a piece of your mind. You manage to catch an eyeful of a smug little grin on his face, when the girl moves in the way, her face peering into yours.

“Is that… true?” Her hazel eyes are wide and filled to the brim with worry. “Are you really homeless?”

“No!” Your response is a little too quick, too agitated. Damn that Saeran… Why the hell did he say that? Why did he know that? “I’m just… a little down on my luck right now. My-”

You quickly clamp your mouth shut. There’s no need to be telling these strangers your whole life story.

“…In other words… yes.” The girl tries to look sympathetic, but all you can see is pity in her eyes.

“It’s only temporary!” you insist hotly.

You can see the concern growing in her eyes with each and every second. There’s no doubt that your answer troubles her in some way. She waves the other man over to her, and whispers something in his ear. Then the two of them turn around, huddled together as they discuss something, probably related to you, in hushed voices. You take a step back; if you’re going to run, now is the time. You get ready to turn on your heels and flee. Before you can even move the girl yells out, “Wait!”

And for some reason, you listen.

“Why… “ She pauses. “Why don’t you live with us for the time being?” she asks, her voice completely void of any kind of malice.

You turn and gawk at her incredulously. She  _can’t_  be serious. There’s just no way. “Listen, I appreciate the offer. It’s really kind of you, but I just… I just can’t go accepting help from a stranger.”

Because the last time you did something remotely like that, it landed you in a  _religious cult._

“But you know Saeran.”

Your eyes shift over to him. You can barely say that you know him, but perhaps he knows you. He seems to know you’re about to be homeless. His haughty expression from earlier had been displaced by bewilderment. He knows this girl better than you, so shouldn’t he have expected something like this when he so callously pointed out your living situation?

“I told you-”

“It’s clear that you do, though!” she exclaims, cutting you off. “And I don’t know, maybe something happened between the two of you, but if you’re homeless, you can’t just expect us to leave you alone.”

“I…” you begin, trying to think of something you can say to dissuade her. “I just  _can’t_ , okay?”

“It’s fine if you stay with us! Really! I’m not saying you have to stay forever! Just until you can find another place to go!”

“I was just about to go do that!” you ground out. “So I don’t  _need_  your help!”

She crosses her arms and frowns at you, “But that means you  _don’t_  already have an idea of where to go, right? Why keep searching when you can just  _stay with us_? It’s not like Saeyoung minds.”

The other man, clearly Saeyoung, nods, with a smile that makes you wonder if he realizes he’s caught in the middle of a heated argument. “I don’t mind at all! A friend of Saeran’s is a friend of mine!”

“We aren’t friends!” you nearly bellow, causing some of the other cafe patrons to throw your group curious looks. Then, in a much quieter voice, you hiss. “He happened to be part of a  _cult_  that I was unlucky enough to get caught in. So, can you really blame me for being so suspicious of you?”

Saeyoung and the girl exchange a knowing look and then the girl speaks, her voice almost silent, “Mint Eye?”

It seems they’re aware of it. Hearing the name causes every hair on your body stand on end. “…Yes.”

“…You don’t need to fear,” she says, an attempt to soothe you in a soft tone. “Mint Eye is gone.”

Hearing those words gives birth to half a dozen questions and you’re about to start asking them when your phone starts ringing in your bag. Feeling somewhat grateful for the interruption you reach in and pull it out. However, that relief is short lived when you see the person on the other line is Nayeon, your soon to be ex-roommate. Hesitantly, you answer, “Hello…?”

“Oh hey.” Her voice is nonchalant on the other line. “So remember how I asked you to move out?”

More like demanded, but you have no room to really say anything since she charged you so little for rent. But her question gives you a really bad feeling. “…Yeah?”

“So, uh, do you think you can do it by tonight?”

“What?!” She’d told you a week this morning! It’s not like it’ll be hard to pack up your stuff because you don’t really own a lot, but finding somewhere new to live in a matter of hours…

Before you can even really answer her question, Nayeon speaks up again, “I’ll take that as a yes! Thanks!”

Then she abruptly hangs up. You pull your phone away from your ear and stare at it in awe.  Somehow, you feel like she’ll have no problems tossing your stuff on the street if you don’t go get it. You need to find somewhere to stay and fast. You could ask your friends. Heeji or Jieun would take you, but with everything that’s been happening lately, you’d feel like such a bother. Of course, you could just sleep in a park for a night or two, but that ultimately doesn’t solve the problem.

“Um, excuse me?”

Feeling suddenly drained, you yank out the chair you’d been sitting in before Saeran came around and plop yourself down. There are few ways things could get worse than this. First the job, now your home… What in the world did you do to deserve all of this? All you ever wanted was to live independently, but ever since you left your family’s home it’s been misfortune left and right…

“Excuse me, miss?”

You slowly look up, and Saeran’s female friend is watching you with pained eyes. There’s no doubt that she heard all that, meaning she’s probably just going to push you to stay with them even more. “Is… everything okay?”

“No.”

“I know that you’re hesitant and like you said, given what probably happened to you at Mint Eye I can’t blame you in the slightest,” she pleads with you, trying to sound as reasonable as possible. “But… I promise we won’t do anything like that to you. I really just want to help you. I give you my word that you’ll be free to come and go as you please.”

You bite your lip. Part of you thinks it best to remain suspiciuos, but yet at the same time the look in her eyes and the sound of her voice are just so earnest that you want to trust her. Everything has just gone so wrong lately, that you want to be able to find some glimmer of hope to hold on to so you can make it through this. Neither Saeran or Saeyoung have spoken this whole time, and you look at each of them, trying to get a gauge on what they’re thinking. Saeyoung gives you a friendly smile and Saeran… well, he’s not looking at you for once, instead he’s looking off to the side, his expression neutral.

“So please,” she implores you, her tone gentle and kind. “Won’t you let us help you?”

You take a deep breath. You know that you shouldn’t. Taking this woman’s offer could drag you down the deep end  _again_. You don’t know what else you can do though. Maybe it’s the desperation, but you’re willing to cling to the hope that maybe this time things won’t go awry. If things go well, then great! Faith in humanity restored! But If this turns out to be a mistake you’ll deal with the consequences later. You just need to do what you can to stay afloat.

“Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's that! hopefully it wasn't too ridiculous lol. 
> 
> look forward to the next update in around two weeks!


	3. settling in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after moving out of your ex-roommate's place, saeran and his family bring you to his home which ends up not being as bad as you fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, setting deadlines is bad if you end up messing them and regretting it. oops. OTL anyway what happened was i became a human slug last wednesday and thursday. plus rewriting this chapter took longer than normal because it was messier than the first two chapters. >_>;
> 
> after careful consideration, my beta and i decided to give the game's mc (not the fic mc, since that's against my reader insert policy) a name. 
> 
> other than that, i know this fic is super slice of life so if you enjoy it despite that, thank you so much. please enjoy and thank you for any likes or kudos! m (_ _) m

With the help of Saeran, Saeyoung, and the girl, whose name you find is Seongmi, the move out of your ex-roommate’s place is relatively painless. Of course, you’re still concerned that this could be a trap to lure you to your doom, but you try to look on the bright side, wherever that is. Relief surges through you when you find that the house that Saeyoung drives up to is a relatively normal looking one just outside the city. However, that feeling dissipates a little when he pulls into an abnormally large garage.

Saeyoung smoothly parks in one of the free spots. You hesitantly step out of the car, swinging the backpack with all of your important stuff over your shoulder. You can’t help but gawk at the small collection of extremely expensive cars he’s got stored in this garage. You’re not an expert on cars, but there’s no doubt that even just one of those would be enough to pay your life expenses for at least a few years.

“Aren’t my babes lovely~?”

You jump at the sound of Saeyoung’s voice behind you. He must have noticed you staring at them. You turn and slowly nod at him. He shoots you a grin and opens his mouth wide before Saeran interrupts him.

“You can brag about your dumb cars later! Help us out over here!”

“Okay~”

The both of you head to the back of the car where Seongmi and Saeran are pulling the few boxes you have out of the trunk. Everyone grabs one or two and you head into the house proper. You follow Saeyoung through a door into a small hallway, then he turns and goes down a small set of stairs into what looks like the living room.

The first thing you notice is that there are no windows at all. There’s a part of you that finds that worrisome, but another part of you reasons that plenty of people keep their windows shut all the time, so having no windows is basically the same thing… Isn’t it? The second thing you notice is that the entire residence is kind of messy. Not like a pigsty, but a lived in kind of messy and that serves to soothe you a bit.

Saeyoung leads you all down another hallway where you assume all the rooms are. You pass two doors until he finally stops at one and announces cheerfully, “Here we are!”

He balances the boxes he’s holding on one hand so he can free up the other to open the door. The door knob, interestingly enough, has a numeric keypad on it. Saeyoung keys in a four digit passcode. “It’s 1414,” he says as he punches the enter key. That’s simple enough, but you wonder if he’ll let you change it later.

During the ride, you’d been told that your new room was currently being used for storage, and boy were they not kidding. There’s still a fair amount of floor space, but the walls are lined with cardboard boxes, the contents of each box scribbled on the side in marker. In addition, there are a few rolling racks filled with a variety of clothes, some of which appear to be costumes. Luckily, however, in one corner of the room is a small bed with a plain white sheet tucked into it.

“So, Saeran’s room is next to yours and our is that first door we passed in the hall,” Seongmi explains as you put down your backpack and the box you’re carrying. “We’ll leave you alone so you can get settled in, but feel free to let us know if you need anything!”

“Okay… thanks,” you mumble quietly. She flashes an encouraging smile in your direction and ushers the two brothers out of the room. As he’s exiting, Saeran shoots you one last glance that you pretend to not see. Once they’re gone and the door is shut, you flop onto the bed. Not once did you you think that you’d see that mint green eyed man again, let alone live with him.

Saeyoung and Seongmi seem nice from what you’ve seen so far. They chatted with you a bit, asked some basic questions about you like your hobbies, your favorite foods, and stuff like that, but nothing too invasive. To your surprise, they didn’t ask about your connection to Saeran, but for that you’re glad. Those memories aren’t fun to talk about.

You yawn, realizing just how tired you feel. When you think about it, it’s been a really busy day. It’d be best to just start unpacking. There’s not a lot and the sooner you get it done, the better.

…But, it would be fine to take a teensy little nap, right?

Just so you don’t sleep the night away you grab your phone and set an alarm for an hour from now before nestling yourself on the bed for a quick doze.

A loud knocking wakes you from your slumber, causing you to nearly fall off the bed. The first thing you do is grab your phone to check the time. And it’s dead. You never put it on a charger. Cursing your idiocy, you roll over and reach into your backpack to fish out your phone charger. Once you get it, you find the nearest outlet and shove it in the wall before plugging it into your phone. Whoever’s at the door knocks again and you yell out, “Wait a second!”

You wait a couple seconds before trying to turn the phone on. It flickers to life and after a minute of booting up, you finally can check the time since you can’t even guess due to the lack of windows. And… you ended up sleeping through the entire night. You sigh. At least it’s not like you really had anything to do other than unpack.

The knocking at your door starts up again, this time sounding even more impatient than before. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” you yell, hopping off the bed so you can finally answer the door. When it opens, you find that your visitor is none other than Saeran. He stares at you blankly for a second before he starts snickering. You shoot him a confused glare, wondering what’s so funny. There shouldn’t be anything on your face… Suddenly, you reach both hands up to touch the top of your head and sure enough it feels like you’ve got at least a mild case of bedhead. You hurriedly try to smooth down your hair with your fingers, though without a mirror you can’t tell how successful you are. It should be good enough, though.

“What do you want at this fine hour of the morning?” you ask, still glowering at Saeran.

He clears his throat a bit before answering, his voice flat, “I was told to give you the grand tour.”

“I don’t really need it, though.” You can find your way around the house yourself after another hour or two of sleep. If there’s anywhere they don’t want you going they could just lock it up, it’s not like you’re going to go try picking any locks.

Saeran rolls his eyes and grounds out, “Just. Come. On.”

“Fiiiine.” You begrudgingly agree, patting your hair down one more time before stepping into the hall. You can just take another nap later if you’re still tired.

He points down the hall at the door that’s on the same side as yours. “That’s my room.”

“…you know, Seongmi told me this last night.”

Saeran merely shrugs, “They said give you the ‘grand tour.’”

“Okay, okay…”

Then he points at another door on the opposite wall. You take a few steps closer and notice that this door doesn’t have a numeric lock on it.

“Bathroom,” he elaborates.

“Ah, yes, very good to know.”

“We share, so don’t make a mess.”

You frown and stick your tongue out at him. It’s not your first time sharing a bathroom with someone, so you know common courtesy. “Same goes for you!”

Saeran doesn’t say anything in response to your childish display and walks up the hall. He rounds a corner and passes another door, but doesn’t point it out. You stop to look at it, “Wait a second, what’s this room?”

Saeran pauses and glances back at you with a snarky expression, “Are you that interested in a closet?”

“Well, I didn’t know it was a closet.”

He rolls his eyes with a soft sigh, “Fine, that’s a closet. And the other door is, as you should know, the lovebird’s room.”

You nod, and Saeran continues on into the living room. You’d passed through here yesterday but you hadn’t gotten a chance to really look at much. There’s a couch and the largest flat screen tv you’d ever seen. Hooked up to it are all the current gaming consoles as well as a few older ones. Video games weren’t really a part of life at Mint Eye, so you figure that it’s probably Saeyoung or Seongmi’s stuff. Though, perhaps Saeran’s picked up some new hobbies since the cult’s been dissolved.

“This is the living room,” Saeran explains, then motions to the foyer connected by a small set of stairs. It has an even more impressive set up than the one in the living room. There are two different desks with computers. One’s hooked up to three screens and the other to six. Seated at one of the desks is Saeyoung, typing away, seeming to not have noticed your presence yet. “This is the idiot’s work space.”

Your jaw drops a little. You want to ask who needs six screens, but you vaguely remember Saeran having around that many in the information room at Mint Eye. Do they have that many for a similar reason? You want to think no, you’re trying to look on the bright side here and so you tell yourself that since the living room is teched out, it makes sense that the computers are, too.

Saeyoung suddenly stops typing and twists his head in your direction, waving with a goofy grin on his face, “Hello! How’s the tour?”

“I’d like to request a refund,” you respond with a sudden joke. “The guide failed to point out a closet to me.”

Saeyoung stares at you before he starts to laugh, “Saeran, it’s a grand tour, you have to be extra thorough~”

Saeran shoots you an exasperated glare, “Do you want me to point out all the light fixtures too?”

“…well, if you wanna go the extra mile, be my guest.”

He rolls his eyes at you once again, before heading up a small set of stairs into another small hallway. This area you recognize and you point down the adjacent hallway, “The garage is down that way, right?”

He nod and points to another door, “Another bathroom.”

“Oh, okay,” you respond as you continue down the hall. It leads into the dining and kitchen area where you find Seongmi. She’s standing by the sink, washing a couple dishes and looks up when the two of you walk in.

“Good morning,” she greets you with a smile. “I made breakfast… if you want some, that is.”

She motions to the table where you spot a pair of plates with pancakes stacked on top of them. To be honest, you do feel a bit hesitant, but they look too good to be laced with anything. Besides, if they really were going to do anything uncouth, wouldn’t it have been better to do it when you were sleeping and defenseless? You stomach lets out a perfectly timed rumble, causing Seongmi to laugh.

“I… guess I’ll have some…” you mumble, feeling your face grow warm with embarrassment. “But… there are two plates…”

“That’s for Saeran! Saeyoung and I already ate.”

You look at Saeran, who’s got a pouty look plastered on his face as he sits down at the table. Somehow, you doubt that it was his idea to have breakfast together. The other two probably thought it would be nice to not eat alone, which is true. It’d be kind of awkward to eat alone, but eating with Saeran is probably just as awkward. But still, you don’t want her effort or the food to go to waste so you sit down in the other seat. “Th…thanks.”

Seongmi beams at you, “You’re most certainly welcome! I hope you like it!”

If anything, the pancakes sure do look tasty. Before you can, Saeran grabs the bottle of syrup that’s on the table. He pops the cap off, and turns it over to pour over his pancakes, squeezing it hard and drowning them in syrup.

“Hey!” you protest. “Make sure there’s enough for me too!”

Saeran gives you a petulant look before loosening his hold on the bottle, slowing the flow of syrup before he turns the bottle upright and hands it to you.The bottle was more than half full when he first grabbed it, but now there’s less than a fourth of it left.

“…you always did have a big sweet tooth,” you grumble, vaguely recalling how you’d sometimes deliver tubs of ice cream and cookies to the information room. You swiftly dismiss those thoughts and drizzle some syrup on your own stack of pancakes. When you’re satisfied with the amount of syrup you have, there’s only a tiny bit left in the bottle, so you figure you might as well finish it off. “…sorry, we used up all the pancake syrup.”

Seongmi comes over and grabs the bottle to toss it. “It’s okay! Honestly, Saeran tends to finish a whole bottle on his own…”

“No joke,” you reply, watching as Saeran eats his syrup soaked pancakes.

She chuckles a little, eyeing Saeran with a fond look you’d expect a parent to give a child. “Anyway, did you sleep okay?”

You take a bite of your own pancakes and nod, “Kinda dozed off before I could get any unpacking done, though.”

“You were probably tired from everything that happened yesterday…” Seongmi muses. Then she pauses for a second, looking thoughtfully at Saeran. He stops eating and looks at her briefly before directing his attention back to the pancakes. “I have an idea! Saeran can help you unpack!”

A distinct choking sound comes from his direction. You can’t help but wonder if the whole grand tour thing was one of her ideas too. You put your fork and knife down, raising your hands up defensively, “It’s okay! I can handle it myself! There isn’t that much! I don’t want to be a bother or anything!”

“No, no, it’s fine! You don’t mind, right, Saeran?”

The boy in question gulps down the last of his pancakes and looks at his brother’s fiancee hesitantly. Although she’s smiling, there’s something about it that looks mildly threatening. You wonder if she’s being so insistent because of your history? It’s the only thing that really makes any sense. He nods slowly in agreement and her grin only widens. You really don’t need the help, but you have the feeling that she won’t be convinced otherwise.

The rest of breakfast is spent engaging in small talk with Seongmi. This time she properly introduces herself and tells you about how she came to meet Saeyoung and Saeran and… well, it’s most certainly interesting. Who would just blindly go to some random apartment just to help out a stranger who messaged you on some questionable messenger? But then again, you’re not really one to judge. You followed some random stranger for a free meal and wound up in a cult. She seems nice though, almost too much so. You feel a little bad for suspecting her when she hasn’t actually done anything wrong yet.

Once you’re done with the pancakes, you volunteer to at least wash the rest of the dishes, but Seongmi shoos you away. Reluctantly, you make your way back to your room with Saeran trailing behind. When you get to the door, you turn to face him.

“You know, you don’t need to help me unpack,” you state flatly. “You saw how little I have.”

“….have to,” Saeran grumbles. “They’ll know if I don’t.”

He could just lie and say he did. Unless there’s a way for them to know without him saying anything. Suddenly, you remember all those monitors in Saeyoung’s work space and the cameras that were set up all around Magenta. “…please tell me there’s no camera in my room.”

“And it there was?”

“…well, there’s probably not one in the bathroom, so I can do all my changing in there.” It’s not like you’d be doing anything your room that you wouldn’t be ashamed of. Months of having no real space to call your own has really done wonders to your sense of privacy.

Saeran seems to contemplate for a moment before he says, “…there’s one down the hall, that’s all you need to be worried about.”

Just one? You shoot Saeran a skeptical look, but his expression remains even.

“There’s one in the garage, and one in the living room and kitchen,” he admits. Just the basic areas, then? “That idiot isn’t weird enough to put them in any of the rooms.”

He doesn’t seem to be lying. The camera in the hall is kind of weird, but with those expensive cars and all that high tech stuff, it kind of makes sense in a way. But as long as there isn’t one in your room, it should be fine. You punch in the code for your room and enter, making a beeline for the boxes. There’s only four of them plus your backpack and the boxes, for the most part, only have clothes in them. You don’t really have any furniture to store your stuff inside though, so your plan is to just empty the boxes and stack them up so you can have a makeshift set of shelves for storing your stuff. You grab the first box, open it and dump the contents onto the bed.

Saeran watches and grabs another one of the boxes.

“What are you doing?” you ask.

“Helping.”

“Wait! Not-!” you try to stop him before he dumps the contents of the box on the bed. All of your bras and panties tumble out onto the small pile you’ve already created. You groan and Saeran looks down to see what was inside, seeming to realize you didn’t want him to dump that one. His face slowly turns red as you take the box you just emptied and shove all your undergarments into it. You toss that box aside and pick up another, basically thrusting it into his hands.

“Here!” you hiss, face also tinged a bit red from embarrassment “Take this one if you’re so insistent on being helpful!”

He flips this one over and a couple towels and toiletries in a ziplock bag fall out. You’ll have to put that stuff in the bathroom later. You grab the last box and it’s filled with more of your clothes. Then you grab and unzip your backpack to dump out its contents.

“There. All unpacked,” you say flatly. “You’re free to go now.”

You expect Saeran to leave immediately, but he just stands there. You start to fold your clothes, waiting to see if he’s just being slow, but when he makes no move to go, you ask, “…is there something else?”

Saeran doesn’t answer, so once you’re done with a shirt, you look up at him. He’s glancing around the room, but it doesn’t look like he’s looking for something. In fact, he looks like he’s trying to avoid looking at something, and you’d bet money that it’s you. Eventually, his eyes finally land on you, “I’m… sorry.”

“For?” To be honest, there’s a lot he could be apologizing for.

“…for what happened.”

“Are you talking about this,” your hands are still occupied so you knock your head around a bit, trying to motion to the room. “Or are you referring to before?”

Saeran groans and you wonder if this apology is another one of Seongmi’s ideas. With that in mind you say, before he can respond, “Actually, I don’t want your apology. You were told to do this too, right?”

He doesn’t answer, but the look on his face makes it clear that you’ve hit the nail on the head.

“Don’t bother apologizing if you don’t really mean it. Besides… all that’s in the past now…” you say slowly, staring at the shirt in your hands. “I don’t really know what happened to you, but we’re both out of there, so we should just try to move on from it.”

“You say that, but wasn’t it you who brought it up yesterday when Seongmi suggested you come stay with us?” Saeran snaps with a click of his tongue.

“There’s a difference between moving on from the past and not repeating past mistakes!” you retort before sighing. “…just.. If we’re going to have to live together, it would be for the best to try and treat it like a blank slate.”

“…works for me.”

You blink. Somehow you thought it would be harder. But then again, there’s really no history between you two. You barely even spoke when you were in Mint Eye and the only interactions you had that you could even consider to be meaningful were when you first met and when you

left. Despite all that, there’s still something nagging at you and you figure that you might as well ask since you have the chance. “But I… I wanna know. Why did you come up to me…? You could have just kept on walking.”

Saeran watches you with an expression you can’t even hope to decipher, “…dunno.”

That was far less enlightening than you had hoped it would be.

“…I don’t remember many other people from that time,” he adds slowly. “But for some reason, I remember you.”

“Oh, wow, I feel so honored that you remember,” you proclaim sarcastically. But if you’re going to be honest, even though you’d befriended some of the other believers, you can’t really recall any of their names or faces. It wasn’t that long ago, but the memories from that time have just blended together in some sort of haze. The only real reason you remember Saeran is because of the curious color of his eyes.

Saeran snorts, but the look on his face makes it apparent that he’d probably rather not remember. You don’t take any offense, though. It probably wasn’t that good a point in his life either. You can’t blame him if he wants to forget.

* * *

Sometime in the early evening, someone comes knocking on your door again. You can tell from the loud, but quick baging that it’s likely Saeran again. You put your phone down and roll off the bed to answer the door, “What now?”  
  


“Dinner,” he answers gruffly.

You haven’t eaten since the morning, so you could definitely eat, but you’d figured you’d be on your own for dinner. Saeran gives you an expectant look, clearly waiting for you to follow him. You’ll just have to ask about the whole food situation later, but for now you can accept their offer of dinner. He silently leads you to the dining area and once you walk in, you’re greeted with the sound of a bunch of streamers popping.

“Wh-wha?!” you stutter as the ribbons from the streamers slowly land on you.

Saeyoung and his fiancee both giggle at you, wide grins on their faces. But that doesn’t explain anything at all. You turn to Saeran, but all he does is shrug.

“We just wanted to throw you a welcome party!” Seongmi exclaims cheerfully. Next to her, Saeyoung nods enthusiastically.

You gawk at the two, your mouth slightly ajar. Then your eyes move past them to the table, covered in a bunch of the favorite foods you remember mentioning to Seongmi. You bite your lip. This was the last thing you were expecting from them. Who throws a welcome party for a roommate? Especially one they don’t know. If you felt bad for suspecting them before, it’s ten times worse now.

“Th-thank you…” you murmur quietly, feeling all sorts of complicated. “But you… you really didn’t need to go through all this trouble.”

Saeyoung gives you a small salute, “It’s no trouble at all~”

You look away, “But…”

“No buts,” Seongmi tells you in a gentle voice. “Maybe we didn’t need to, but this is something we wanted to do. Now come on, let’s eat!”

She ushers you over to the table, guiding you to a seat which is apparently now your seat at the table. As soon as everyone is seated, Seongmi starts to serve everyone food while Saeyoung tells some silly story about his latest online endeavor. Both you and Seongmi giggle at the anecdote’s conclusion while Saeran retains a neutral expression. Saeyoung ribs at his brother for not reacting to his joke, resulting in odd kind of bickering match between the two which ends up being fun to watch. You can’t help but laugh as Saeyoung pleads for his brother’s love and mercy in a ridiculously exaggerated way. It’s been a while since you’ve actually enjoyed a meal like this, with roommates no less.

It makes you think that maybe, just maybe living here won’t be so bad after all.


	4. technical difficulties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> now that you've settled in your new house hold the next step is to try and find a new job and saeyoung's nice enough to help! but, as always, things don't go exactly as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm late again... oops. maybe i should just say this fic will be updated frequently instead of a schedule? i... should be working on the other two fics anyway. double oops! 
> 
> so, uh, not much to say here, other than sorry for being late... ehehe. thanks to my pumpkin for beta-reading again and thanks to you for any kudos or comments you may leave! they mean a lot to me! :D

When you wake the next morning, it’s to the sound of gentle knocking and Seongmi’s voice drifting through the door telling you that breakfast will be ready soon. Part of you wants to stay in bed, but another part of feels obligated to get up since she went through the effort of making you breakfast. It’d be best to enjoy it while it’s hot, and if anything, you can take a nap later if you’re still tired. **  
**

Slowly, you roll off your bed and shuffle out of your room to the kitchen. When you enter, Seongmi turns around with a smile. “It’s almost ready!”

“I can tell,” you respond with a small grin of your own. “It smells pretty good. What is it?”

“I’m trying something new,” she informs you as she leans against the table. “They’re breakfast muffins!”

You nod slowly, sitting at your seat, “Muffins are good.”

She leans over and whispers in your ear, “They’re supposed to be healthy… Saeyoung and Saeran don’t really have the best diets, so I thought I’d give this a shot.”

You remember seeing a bunch of soda cans and empty chip bags in Saeyoung’s work area. Plus, during your time in Mint Eye, Saeran’s sweet tooth was a well known fact amongst the believers. From the sounds of it, that hasn’t changed.

“But don’t worry!” she adds hastily. “I think they’ll be pretty tasty! …but, just in case, I did add some chocolate chips to them.”

They do say that chocolate makes everything better, right? You grab the pitcher of tea on the table and pour yourself a glass while you wait for the muffins to finish up. A couple minutes later, the oven timer goes off and Seongmi pulls them out before setting them aside to cool.

“So, what are you going to do today?” she asks.

“Probably job search,” you answer while taking a sip of tea. “By the way, do you happen to know where the nearest library is? I… don’t have a computer, and using my phone to apply to jobs isn’t really that easy.”

Seongmi blinks, “If you need to use a computer, I’m sure Saeyoung won’t mind letting you use one of his laptops.”

You cough, nearly choking on the tea, “I-I appreciate the offer, but I can go to a library… You guys have already done so much for me…”

She merely waves a hand like it’s nothing. “It’s really no trouble! He’s got a bunch so I don’t think he’d mind at all!”

You’re not sure if you feel disgusted or amazed. Saeyoung already has those two monstrous desktops, plus a ‘bunch’ of laptops? How many does that even mean? You have the feeling that it’s not just two or three. As if he’d been summoned by the mention of his name, Saeyoung walks into the kitchen. The expression on his face makes it seem like he didn’t get a wink of sleep. Seongmi whirls around and beams at him, “Good morning, sweetie!”

Her greeting seems to perk him right up. Saeyoung bounds over to Seongmi and wraps her up in his arms, plopping a kiss right on her cheek. “Morning~” Then he turns to you, smiling as he greets you as well.

“Morning…” you reply.

“Saeyoung, do you have a spare laptop?” Seongmi asks, wiggling free of his grasp so she can plate up the muffins. Saeyoung taps his chin, thinking as she brings the muffins to the table. She motions for you to take one, and after debating which one looks the tastiest, you grab it to take a bite. For a healthy muffin, the taste is pretty decent, but the texture is a bit… oaty? It feels like a soft granola bar. You’re not sure if you can think of a better way to describe it. When you pull the muffin away to look at the inside you can see that there are definitely a ton of oats in there.

Saeyoung reaches over and grabs a muffin of his own, “…yeah, I think I have one you can use.”

“A-are you serious? You…  you really don’t mind?”

He shakes his head, “Nope! It’s not like it’s getting used anyway~”

You stare at Saeyoung with an incredulous expression. Between him and Seongmi, you find it hard to believe that these kinds of people really exist. You can’t help but wonder if there’s something they might want in exchange, but you can’t even imagine what  _you_  might have to offer them. Regardless, you can’t help but be thankful for it. “Th-thank you so much!”

Saeyoung chuckles, “What’re you gonna use it for, anyway?”

“I need to find a job,” you tell him, with a bit of conviction. “It’s the first step to getting my life back on track!”

Saeyoung’s head bobs up and down in an understanding way.

“Anyway,” you add. “You guys have been so, so kind to me these past two days, but we haven’t really talked about any sorts of terms. How much would you need me to pay for rent?”

For a moment, Saeyoung ponders, before looking back at you with a carefree grin on his face, “I don’t really need any money~”

You jaw drops. He’s got to be kidding, right? You’re ready to protest, but he holds up a hand to stop you and says, “You’re trying to save up for your own place, right? Isn’t it better for you if you don’t have to pay rent?”

Just because it’s better doesn’t make it right. The last thing you want to be is a freeloader. You cross your arms and stare at Saeyoung with knitted brows, “I can’t just stay here for free. Please take my money.”

“Hmm~” Saeyoung’s expression turns thoughtful for a moment before he shoots you a mischievous grin. “How about you pay for premium gas for one of my babes once a month?”

You can’t help but feel suspicious, but still, he’s giving you an option, “How much?”

When he tells you how much, all the blood drains from your face. There’s no way you could pay that much working an average minimum wage job. Saeyoung snickers and you can tell that when he suggested that it was  _knowing_  that there was no way you could pay it. Groaning, you try to reason with the two, “There must be  _something_  I can do. I’m no good at cooking, but I’m willing to learn if you need! And I can help clean around the house. Or…”

You trail off, unsure of what else you could possibly suggest. The two look at one another, considering what you’ve said. You hope that you can work out some sort of deal; you absolutely refuse to just stay here without contributing in some way. Finally, Seongmi speaks, “I… don’t really need help with cooking for the most part, but I  _could_  use a helping hand when it comes to cleaning.”

She shoots Saeyoung a gentle glare and he merely whistles innocently, though you all know that he’s the biggest contributor to mess around the house. You’re glad for it though, since it means there’s  _something_  you can do to help out, “Yes! I’d be happy to help!”

“Now that that’s settled,” Saeyoung starts, grabbing a few more muffins off the table. “I’m heading back to work~ Thanks for breakfast, honey!” Then he turns to you. “Come by for the laptop once you’re done eating!”

He heads back toward the living room, stuffing one of the muffins in his mouth. Once he’s gone, you look back at Seongmi, “If there’s anything else, anything at all, please let me know.”

She nods and takes a seat in her chair, “Of course!”

You take another muffin, munching on it as you try to think of other ways you could possibly repay the two of them for their kindness. When you’re both done eating, you offer to help with the dishes, but find that Seongmi has already done the majority of them. Despite that, you clean up what’s left before you head over to Saeyoung.

As you walk up the stairs leading to the foyer, Saeyoung swivels his chair around. You notice that he’s changed out of his hoodie and jeans into a… suit? You quirk an eyebrow at him in confusion, but he seems to ignore you, and motions toward you in a welcoming way, “Hello! I’ve been waiting~”

He stands and waves an arm toward a table a little ways from his desk. On it are nine different laptops arranged in a square, their lids all closed.  _Nine._  You’d guessed that he was some sort of serious tech nerd, but this feels like a whole other level. Saeyoung surveys you with a cat-like grin then says, in a salesman type voice, “Is there one that catches your fancy, miss?”

“I… I just need one that works,” you answer. The only difference you can see is that some are larger than others, and none of them are the same brand. Neither aspect particularly matter to you, so it’s hard to pick.

“Okay~ Well then….” Saeyoung’s hands hover the laptops before he picks one up and presents it to you. “What about this one?”

He begins to ramble about its specs, but you don’t know a thing about computers so it’s basically foreign language to you. All his talk about the processor, hard drive and memory go in one ear and straight out the other.

“Uh, yeah, that one’s fine,” you say once he’s done talking.

“Excellent~” Saeyoung hands you the laptop and bends down to rummage in a box under the table. He pulls out what looks like the charging cable and half rises before he stops and twists his head to look at you. “Do you need a mouse?”

“Not really.”

“Okay~”  He straightens himself out and hands you the cord.

“Thanks!”

“No problem~” Saeyoung moves back to his desk and sits down. “I’ve got to get back to work, but if you need any help, Saeran should be able to help you!”

You nod, though you don’t think you’ll need any help. It’s been a while but it can’t be  _that_  hard to set up a laptop. You head back to your room and set the laptop on your bed before plugging the charger into both the computer and the wall before hitting the power button. While you wait for it to boot up and turn on, you play a quick game on your phone. When you’re done you check the computer screen and it’s on some kind of log on screen you’ve never seen before.

You move the cursor, trying to click around to see if there’s a way to bypass it or something but nothing comes up. You continue to try for a few minutes before you give up in frustration. It seems like you’re going to need help after all. You consider going back to Saeyoung for help despite the fact that he said that you should ask Saeran for help if you need it. But you don’t want to disturb him while he’s working, especially since it was nice of him to lend you the laptop in the first place. You could wait until he’s done, but who know when that would be? You do want to try and start some job applications today.

Groaning, you get up and leave your room to find Saeran. You haven’t seen him all morning, so his room is the best bet. You head down the hall to where his room is and take a deep breath before knocking on the door. A minute or two passes and he doesn’t answer, so you knock again, this time a little louder. You wait a few more minutes, but still nothing. Is he sleeping still? Would it be better to come back later if he is? You decide to knock one more time and if he still doesn’t answer, you’ll just try again later. Just as you raise your hand to knock a third time, the door swings open, revealing a bleary eyed, messy haired Saeran.

“What do you want?” he grounds out. If he was sleeping, you certainly just woke him up.

“Help,” you answer.

“With what?”

“Saeyoung gave me a computer to use to look for jobs,” you explain, but Saeran continues to eye you grumpily. “But I can’t use it.”

“Then ask him to help you.” Saeran starts to close the door, but you step forward, blocking him from shutting it completely.

“He’s working. Said I should ask you.”

Saeran clicks his tongue, clearly annoyed. But he doesn’t shut the door, instead he seems to contemplate for a moment before he finally says, “…fine.”

He opens the door all the way and in this moment you realize he’s wearing just a pair of sweatpants. You stare for a moment, eyes settling on the tattoo of Mint Eye’s insignia on his right arm. To be honest, you’re a bit surprised he still has it. You know that tattoo removal is a thing, but you don’t know much about it. Would it just leave a scar making the removal attempt pretty much moot or… is there some other reason he insists on keeping it? Saeran seems to realize you’re staring and reaches up to cover his arm, and your eyes move toward his bare chest. It hits you that he’s  _shirtless_. He steps out into the hall and you throw your hands out and look away from him, your cheeks feeling a bit warm from embarrassment.

“Wait!”

“What,” Saeran answers flatly.

“Can you… put on a shirt, or something?” you ask, your eyes still averted.

“Why?” he pauses and out of the corner of your eye you see him step closer, a somewhat mocking look on his face. Probably thinks you’re acting like a kid. In a way, you kind of are. “Does it bother you?”

“…do you think I would ask you to put on a shirt if it  _didn’t_  bother me?” you snap in response, still refusing to look at him.

Saeran snorts, but still ducks back into his room and comes out a moment later in a long sleeve shirt. “Better?”

“Exponentially.”

He shrugs and moves past you toward your room. You follow after at a quicker pace so that you can open the door for him. As soon as the door is open, he steps into your room and goes straight for the computer. You lean against the wall, waiting for Saeran’s diagnosis on the computer.

Finally, he says, “He gave you  _this_  to use?”

You nod, “What’s wrong with it?”

Saeran doesn’t respond to you, instead grumbling something under his breath as he shuts off the laptop and unplugs it. You push yourself off the wall and cry, “Hey, wait a sec, what are you doing?”

“It’s going to be easier to fix this in my room than here,” he replies, pulling the cord from the wall.

“Your room?”

“In case I need anything,” Saeran elaborates, grabbing to laptop. “You can wait here if you want.”

“No, I’m coming with,” you tell him, frowning slightly. “I don’t want you installing anything weird on there.”

Saeran rolls his eyes, but doesn’t say anything to try and stop you. Not that he could. He goes back to his room, but before you follow you check your phone to make sure it’s got a decent amount of power. You run back into the hall and find that Saeran’s holding the door for you so you don’t get locked out. How nice of him.

“…thanks,” you mutter as you enter his room.

“Mm,” he hums, moving past you to get to his desk.

Surprisingly, Saeran’s room is rather… normal. His bed is on one side of the room, and his computer desk on the other. His set up is far less extravagant than his brother’s, only using two monitors. The desk is a bit tidier too, but you still spot a small pile of candy in the corner along with a couple medication bottles. What really catches your attention, though, is a table in the corner of the room. On top of it is a couple different plants, sitting underneath an indoor plant light. Huh. You never pegged Saeran as the kind of guy to like plants. But then again, what did you really know about him in the first place?

You settle yourself on the bed so that you’re sitting behind him. Now that you’re in his room, you figure you can ask again, “What’s wrong with it?”

“I’d explain, but I doubt you’d really understand,” Saeran says in a matter of fact tone as he turns on the computer. You grumble, but you can’t really argue with him since you know he’s probably right. “But basically, it’s not set up for normal usage.”

“What, is it set up for hacking or something?”

“Oh, so you do know something.”

“Bite me,” you retort. It isn’t so much that you know anything, but you remember Seongmi mentioning that both brothers could hack computers. Which corroborates with some of what of you knew about Saeran during your time in Mint Eye. Apparently, he was in charge of security and such. Which kind of makes you wonder what happened after you ran off. You don’t want to ask, though.

“Mmm… I don’t want to get infected,” he shoots back. “I’ll have to uninstall Saeyoung’s OS and install one that you can actually use.”

“And how long will that take?”

He shrugs, “I don’t know, a couple hours, probably.”

You groan, but it can’t be helped. Good thing your phone is nearly fully charged. You flop back on Saeran’s bed and open up one of the comic reading apps you’ve installed. There’s probably something you can read while you wait. And if not, you’ve got half a dozen different games you can play.

“What are you doing?”

You roll over so that you’re facing Saeran, who’s glaring at you from his chair with a half-disgusted look on his face. “You said it’ll take at least a couple hours right? I’m getting comfortable.”

“On my bed?”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to get comfy on your floor.”

Saeran just shakes his head and turns back toward his desk. Sweet. He’s not going to make you get on the floor. You watch as he turns on his own computer and monitors and reaches into one of the desk drawers to pull out what looks like a couple USB drives. When he logs into his computer, you turn your attention back to your phone. Maybe you’ll start a new comic series since you’ve practically caught up on the ones you’ve subscribed to. The banner for a new series catches your eye and you click on it. But it’s only got three chapters. You sigh. It’s better than nothing, though. You click it, and quickly read through the available chapters all too quickly, wanting more when you finish. It looks like it’ll update later, but that’s probably not for a few more hours. Disappointed, you go back to looking but none of the other comics catch your eye.

You switch to checking the games on your phone, thinking it’ll keep you a bit more preoccupied. After you get your log in bonuses and such, you realize you’re not really in the mood to mindlessly grind anything. You lower your phone to see what Saeran’s doing at the computer. While you were reading he connected the two computers via some kind of wire. He’s currently typing away at his desktop’s keyboard, occasionally stopping to glance at the laptop’s screen. You sit up and lean forward to get a better view of either screen and… nope. You can’t understand a damn thing.

“What are you doing?” you ask.

The typing stops for a brief second before continuing. “I already told you.”

“I mean, specifically. You said you’re uninstalling the OS, but it looks more complicated than that.”

“…even if I explained, we both know you wouldn’t get it,” Saeran responds in a short tone.

“Come on, try me,” you challenge, hoping his explanation will help pass the time a bit. “If you understand something, shouldn’t you be able to explain it to someone else so they can understand too?”

You can practically hear Saeran rolling his eyes, “And why would you want to understand?”

“Well, I’m living in a house with hackers, aren’t I? So I might as well try and learn a thing or two.” As soon as the words leave your mouth, Saeran scoffs. You frown. Did you say something funny? “What? I think that’s a pretty good reason, right?”

He shakes his head, and says, in a soft voice, “…she said the same thing.”

She? Does he mean Seongmi? You sense the tiniest bit of affection in his voice when he mentions “her” but you ignore it. “Well, she’s got a point, you know.”

Saeran lets out a relenting sigh, “Fine. So, like you said, that idiot used this laptop to hack at some point. For that, he built and installed a custom operating system in this laptop.”

“Okay, so because it’s custom built, you can’t just uninstall it?”

“Nope. Each one of his damn computers has a slightly different OS. Plus, he’s built in a defensive system as a countermeasure against other hackers,” Saeran explains, sounding a bit agitated. “It’s a real pain in the ass.”

“…does that mean you won’t be able to hack it?” you ask more to yourself than to him.

But all the same, the typing stops and Saeran’s chair swivels around so he can shoot you an annoyed, yet smug look. “Who do you take me for? I’m the only one who’s ever successfully hacked the great 707.”

Someone’s a little proud. “…so, you have to get rid of that defensive system before you can even begin to uninstall the OS, right?”

Is it just you, or does he look a little perturbed that you brushed of his little boast? “Good job, you get a cookie.”

“Don’t mock me,” you grumble. “Will it be easier once the defensive system is gone?”

“Should be.” Saeran pauses, then smirks forebodingly. “Unless he snuck some other  _surprises_  in the system.”

“Like a virus?”

“Mm, yeah, something like that.”

“…if there’s something like that you’ll take it out, right?”

“…maybe,” Saeran snickers, causing you to cry out loudly in protest. Quickly, he revises his answer with an exasperated look before turning around. “Yeah, I will. They won’t let me hear the end of it if there was something wrong with it.”

You frown at him, not appreciating his little joke. But, otherwise satisfied with his word on making sure the computer will be in complete working condition, you lay back down on his bed. You yawn a little and roll into a more comfortable position.

“Hey, no sleeping on my bed,” he grumbles from the desk. That yawn must have been loud.

“I’m just laying down for a bit!” you assert. You were just yawning. It doesn’t mean you’ll actually fall asleep or anything. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to sleep on your bed.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Mmm. Well, I’m glad that we can agree,” you sigh, rolling over again and closing your eyes. It’ll only be for five minutes. Not like you’ll actually fall asleep on his bed.

* * *

“Hey. Wake up.”

You groan, rolling away from the voice. The owner makes an annoyed sound and shakes you by the shoulder. You reach up and lazily try to swat them away, but they grab your hand instead.

“I said wake up!”

“Urghhh,” you grumble and slowly open your eyes to Saeran leaning above you, making no effort to hide his agitation. He releases your hand and pulls away as you sit up, rubbing your head.

“I thought you didn’t want to sleep on my bed,” Saeran chides, crossing his arms.

“I didn’t,” you answer flatly. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

Saeran doesn’t say anything, just stares at you. It’s kind of unnerving and after a moment, you ask, “What is it?”

He finally turns away and says in a low voice, “…you were crying.”

You blink, automatically reaching up to touch your face. Did you have a bad dream? You honestly can’t remember, so it couldn’t have been that bad. But even then, maybe you cried out a little?  That’s normal, isn’t it? “…were you concerned?”

“No. It’d just be a problem if one of the lovebirds heard you.”

“Well then, lucky you that they didn’t,” you shrug. “Anyway, are you done with the computer now?”

Saeran nods, turning to face you again with a smirk on his face. The sight of it worries you and you curse yourself for falling asleep and being unable to keep tabs on what he was doing. “Hey, what’s with the creep-o grin? You better have not installed something weird on there.”

Saeran scoffs, “I didn’t.”

“Do you really think I can trust you when you look like  _that_?”

He gives you a nonchalant shrug. “You don’t have to trust me. Even if I did, there’s no way you would know.”

Crap, he’s got a point. “I could just take it to Saeyoung.”

“And he would tell you there’s nothing on there,” Saeran retorts confidently. Either he thinks that his brother won’t find whatever it is that he possibly installed or he’s actually being honest with you. “Fixing it was just more fun than I thought it would be.”

“Is that so? I’m glad you had fun then.” If Saeran enjoyed himself that means he at  _least_  got something out of fixing the laptop. You stretch a little as Saeran grabs the laptop and power cord off his desk. It seems he’s actually been done for a little while since it’s unplugged and powered off. He hands it to you and you give him a small, appreciative smile, “Thanks for fixing it.”

You get ready to leave the room but just as you reach for the doorknob Saeran speaks, “…hey.”

“What?”

He doesn’t respond right away, but you decide to wait. After a bit, you start to think that maybe he’s not going to say anything at all. Then, in a small voice, he asks, “…do you dream about it?”

From the tone of Saeran’s voice, there’s no doubt in your mind that he must be referring to Mint Eye. Slowly, you turn back around to look at him. He’s staring at you with a pensive expression, those mint green eyes of his almost glowing.

“….I do,” you admit. The line of his frown deepens just a bit. Saeran must dream about Mint Eye too. He probably dreams about it far more than you do. “…but I try not to worry about it. You… you shouldn’t worry about it either.”

His eyes narrow and you laugh humorlessly, “Yeah, I know, easier said than done right?”

You turn your back to him once more, grabbing the doorknob, “Anyway, thanks again for fixing the computer.”

Before he can ask or say anything else, you pull the door open and leave the room.


End file.
